Hanwha SolarOne Co., Ltd., formerly known as Solarfun Power Holdings Co., Ltd., has announced it has signed an investment memorandum of understanding to construct a new 2 gigawatt solar cell production facility.
The plant will be constructed in China’s Nantong Economic and Technological Development Zone, located in Jiangsu Province
The first phase of the project, to run over three years, will see SolarOne investing approximately USD$500 million to construct cell and solar panel production lines with 1 GW annual capacity.
President and Chief Executive Officer of SolarOne Dr. Peter Xie says Nantong Economic and Technological Development Zone will provide the company with access to the skilled employees required for the project and is located close to a major sea port. The new facility is expected to lower production costs and Dr. Xie says it will give SolarOne an additional edge over our competitors.
Solarfun changed its name to Hanwha SolarOne after Hanwha Group’s investment in Solarfun in mid-September last year. Hanwha Group is active in solar project development and financing and plans to produce polysilicon in the future.
Solarfun solar panels are a popular choice for home solar power systems in Australia. Already a vertically integrated manufacturer of silicon ingots, wafers, PV cells and modules, Hanwha SolarOne aims to become a top three module manufacturer by 2015.
Solarfun completed its first PV module production line in 2004 and its cell production line began operations in 2005. By 2007, it had increased its production capacity to 240MW and by late last year had lifted production to 700 MW.
